Ukraine on Sunday has agreed to hold talks with Russia in Belarus according to state media report. A delegation is heading to Gomel region in Belarus for talks with Russia, Vladimir Putin’s aide was quoted as saying by Russia state-affiliated media Sputnik.
Meanwhile, in a dramatic escalation of East-West tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces put on high alert Sunday in response to what he called “aggressive statements” by leading NATO powers.
Russia, like NATO and the United States, has thousands of nuclear warheads in its arsenal, and by putting them on higher alert, Putin for the first time in this conflict explicitly raised the global stakes to a far deadlier level.
Zelenskyy and Putin’s announcements came after Ukrainian and Russian forces fought pitched street battles in Kharkiv, Ukraine‘s second-largest city, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to talk to a Russian delegation that has arrived in Belarus earlier on Sunday.
(With inputs from agencies)
